Email Etiquette
For many businesses, computers are a means to simplify communications through the use of email. In this quick tip, we wanted to review some basics for professional email communication. A company should implement etiquette rules for the following reasons:
Professionalism: by using proper email language your company will convey a professional image
Efficiency: emails that get to the point are much more effective than poorly worded emails
Protection from liability: employee awareness of email risks will protect your company from costly law suits
Some rules to follow:
Be concise and to the point
Answer all questions, and pre-empt further questions
Use proper spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Make it personal
Answer promptly
Do not attach unnecessary files
Do not overuse the high priority option
Do not write in all CAPITALS
Read the email before you send it
Do not overuse Reply to All
Use caution with abbreviations and emoticons
Do not forward chain letters
Do not copy a message or attachment without permission
Use a relevant subject line
Avoid using URGENT and IMPORTANT
Use short sentences
Keep your language gender neutral
The first step to enforcing email etiquette in your business is to create a written email policy. This should contain all the dos and donts concerning the use of your companys email system. The second step is to train your employees to understand the importance of email etiquette. Lastly, you should implement rules that can be monitored using email management software and email response tools. If you need help with these steps, please contact Kotori Technologies, and we will be glad to assist you.
Create Your Own Shortcut
Here at Kotori, we love to tell you about keyboard shortcuts, but today we're going to switch it up and just tell you how create your own key combinations to open programs. Sounds cool, right?
So do this:
Right-Click on a program that you want to create a shortcut key combination for and select Properties.
Make sure you're under the Shortcut tab and put your mouse cursor in the box next to Shortcut key.
Now choose any combination using the Ctrl, Alt, and/or Shift keys plus an alphanumeric keyboard character and click Apply.
So, For example; if I want to open Outlook, I would input something like Ctrl+Shift+O as my key combination. Now whenever I press it, Outlook will open for me!
Be careful, though, because some key combinations may already be spoken for. If that's the case, just try something different!
Five business scenarios for the iPad and other tablets
Neadom recently found an article that we thought you may enjoy.
When you talk to IT pros and business managers about tablet computers, the first question they tend to ask is, Looks cool, but what I do with it? This conversation has been happening for a decade since Microsofts pen-based Tablet PC was introduced at Comdex 2001. There, Bill Gates declared, Within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.
That turned out to be a false prophesy. Microsofts tablet never attracted a mass audience, although it has gained some niche adoption in industries such as health care, field service, and hospitality.
However, the Apple iPad and the new breed of slate computers that are hitting the market in 2010 are looking to revive the tablet concept. They are doing it with a lighter, thinner form factor that uses a touch-based interface rather than pen computing.
Its way too early to predict whether the new tablets will be successful, but its easy to imagine some of the usage scenarios for them in the business world. Here are five to consider:
5. Replace 200-page business documents Large business documents waste a lot of paper. Most of these tend to be legal documents that people never read from cover-to-cover, but when you have meetings to discuss any kind of major business deal the piles of paper can quickly get out of hand.
While some of these types of documents have already moved to PDF, that requires people to bring a laptop into the meeting to read the PDF. That can sometimes stifle the intimacy of the meeting. Slate computers that can lay flat on the table could be more conducive to an open discussion. Theres also a security implication. If a company has sensitive documents that it wants to share with a potential partner, but doesnt want to email the documents, a company-owned slate computer could be used to display the big documents for guests to flip through, but all the data on the slate would remain in company hands.
4. Business reading and audiobooks for road warriors Frequent business travelers often have a briefcase full of newspapers, magazines, and books that they want to catch up during a trip. Plus, they also usually carry on iPod with a few audiobooks and/or podcasts on it. The new tablet computers could offer the opportunity to consolidate this media experience into a single device, if newspapers follow the lead of The New York Times and magazines follow the lead of Sports Illustrated. Of course, the digitization process is already in full swing for books, with ebook apps for Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Apples iBookstore.
3. Back of the Napkin sketches With his Back of the Napkin concept, Dan Roam has successfully convinced a lot of companies and professionals to draw simple pictures to help solve problems and sell ideas. However, integrating these pictures into standard business processes and communications isnt always as simple as it should be. Its easy to draw these pictures on a whiteboard, but then you have to take a picture of the whiteboard if you want to circulate it. With built-in drawing tools like the ones in the iPad, its about to get a lot easier to quickly draw simple pictures and circulate them digitally.
2. Small-scale presentations While projectors and slide presentations have their place - especially for large meetings - there is also the opportunity to bring those same types of powerful visuals to smaller meetings, even as small as 1-on-1s. With a slate computer in hand, an employee could go to another employees office and quickly show off a PowerPoint file, a Back of the Napkin sketch, a set of images, or several product mockups on a dev server. This kind of show-and-tell could streamline idea-sharing and amp up innovation. While all of this is possible with a laptop, the slim form factor of slates lend themselves to better portability and show-and-tell.
1. Conference room computing One of the common behaviors in many of todays corporate conference rooms is to come in, sit down, and lay down your smartphone on the table. Smartphones have become our way to stay connected, send short messages, and look up information while in the middle of a meeting. The one thing you cant really do with a smartphone is to easily share any information you found with the rest of the people in the meeting, because the smartphones screens are so small.
Thats why slate computers could become the conference room PCs of choice. People could use them to access documents, emails, images, and illustrations needed for the meeting. A presenter could send a PowerPoint file before a meeting and attendees could access the PPT from their personal slates during the meeting, and make their own notes on it. And, employees in the meeting could share visuals with the rest of the people in the meeting just by pulling up the data on-screen and then flipping the slate around.
See video and original post by Jason Hiner at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=3741&tag=nl.e101
History of Valentine's Day
Every February we celebrate Valentine's Day by giving flowers, candy and cards to those we love. We do this in honor of Saint Valentine. You may be wondering, "Who is St. Valentine"? Time to brush up on your Valentine's history!
Legend has it that Valentine was a priest who served during third century Rome. There was an Emperor at that time by the name of Claudius II. Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those that were married. With this thought in mind he outlawed marriage for young men in hopes of building a stronger military base. Supposedly, Valentine decided this decree just wasn't fair and chose to marry young couples secretly. When Emperor Claudius II found out about Valentine's actions he had him put to death.
Another legend has it that Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in love with his jailor's daughter. Before he was put to death he sent the first 'valentine' himself when he wrote her a letter and signed it 'Your Valentine', words still used on cards today.
Perhaps we'll never know the true identity and story behind the man named St. Valentine, but this much is for sure...February has been the month to celebrate love for a long time, dating clear back to the Middle Ages. In fact, Valentines ranks second only to Christmas in number of greeting cards sent.
Another valentine gentleman you may be wondering about is Cupid (Latin cupido, "desire"). In Roman mythology Cupid is the son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology is Eros, god of love. Cupid is often said to be a mischievous boy who goes around wounding both gods and humans with his arrows, causing them to fall in love.
Three Ways to Type Faster
Many jobs require at least some typing. Single-finger pecking on the keyboard cost time and money. You can help to speed up your typing skills using these three steps.
THREE WAYS TO TYPE FASTER
Developing your skill for touch typing requires at least three steps for improvement. These steps are position, practice, and no peeking. Before you begin trying out the steps below, it is important to have a base line of your current typing speed. There are many free typing tests online. Open your search engine and type, "free typing test" many search results will appear. Numerous typing tests also come with free online games and tutorials.
POSITION
It is impossible to learn how to type well without first learning the basics of typing. Your fingers must learn to navigate the keyboard. Each finger is responsible for touching certain keys. In order for your fingers to become familiar with these keys, it is essential to learn good techniques. A typing tutorial will be helpful in learning good technique. Use a free online tutorial to learn the basics of where your fingers should rest at in home row. Home row uses the keys a, s, d, f, j, k, l, and ;. Here is one good tip for learning to type: learn to identify words letter by letter instead of word by word.
PRACTICE
The old clich, practice makes perfect couldn't be truer in this case. Typing takes practice, practice, and even more practice. Using your typing skill on a daily basis helps you retain your speed and accuracy. An easy way to practice your typing is by playing an online typing game. There are plenty free ones online to choose from. Many of them are entertaining as well. Keeping your fingers moving in a repetitive motion on the keyboard will sharpen your touch typing skill.
NO PEEKING
Probably one of the hardest tasks in learning how to improve your typing skills is to not look at your hands. Trusting your fingers to move the way you've taught them is difficult. Force yourself to focus on the words in front of you and not of the keys of the keyboard. Your fingers know where the keys are now it is time to let them fly. The more you practice without looking, the more your typing speed will improve. One tip you might try if you're having trouble peeking, is to drape a hand towel over your hands while you type.
CONCLUSION
Typing is a learned skill, which takes time to learn the technique, practice the technique, and then trusting your fingers. Now you know how to improve your typing speed, you can make your day's work more productive. Hen pecking the keys on the keyboard might be easy, but it costs you time in the long run. Learning how to increase your typing speed will save you time and money. The free online tests, tutorials, and games eliminate any reason for not learning this useful skill. Start your search engines and type faster.